


A Future As Clear As Crystal

by WoofTheWaffle (VesperRiver)



Series: Crystallization [3]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Anxiety, Babies, Crying, Family Feels, Fluff, Gen, Growing Up, Kid Fic, Muffins, Next Generation, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Parenthood, Purring, Purring Elves, Slice of Life, baby stuff, i guess, past pregnancy, slow burn?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-01
Updated: 2019-01-14
Packaged: 2019-07-05 05:44:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15857409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VesperRiver/pseuds/WoofTheWaffle
Summary: with one of her dads being the Actual Literal Grim Reaper and the other being basically an alien and the best chef in the multiverse, Crystal has an interesting life ahead of her.you dont need to read the previous fic, but it is recommended!





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> AAAAAAAAA HI ITS ME AGAIN! i have no idea how long this fic will be, it just goes through crystals life so uhhh probably Pretty Long askjdhfalsjkdf 
> 
> but anyways!!!!! i hope you enjoy!!!!!! have kravitz trying to dad!!!

When the three of them finally get home from the hospital, Taako turns to Kravitz, “I don't know about you, my dude, but I am fucking exhausted as hell. I'm gonna go sleep for a whole ass day,” he says kissing his husband,

He then crouches down, something he can do with little effort again, and strokes Crystal’s face gently, “See you in a while, baby girl,” he says softly to the sleeping baby. 

He almost hesitates going up the stairs.

“Don't worry, I’ll be fine. You need your sleep,” Kravitz reassures him with a soft kiss to his forehead.

“Yeah,” Taako smiles and disappears up the stairs.

Kravitz carries the baby carrier towards the family room and sits down on the couch. He unbuckles Crystal and lifts her up into his arms carefully. She yawns and opens her eyes for a moment before closing them again.

Crystal doesn't seem to mind his cold touch. He didn't say this to Taako, but he was afraid that she wouldn't like it. He was relieved when she didn’t react at all when he held her for the first time. 

He doesn't really know what to do now, though. 

Kravitz could potentially stare at his daughter for hours, memorize all the freckles on her face, the current floppiness of her ears. Even the beautiful golden of her eyes when she opens them. 

He just starts to get comfortable when his stone buzzes in his pocket.

The reaper frowns and gently places Crystal on the couch to take it out. It buzzes again in his hand, he looks at the screen. A couple texts from Angus. 

One asking if he can come over to meet Crystal, and one that says if he can't he understands.

Kravitz purses his lips. He and Taako are home from the hospital now, so his husband won't mind visitors as much as he did a day ago. This is also Angus.

He responds with a yes and quickly sends another text telling the boy, well, teen detective that Taako is asleep and will be for a while, ‘I'm sure he will be happy to see you too.’ He adds on.

Angus responds with a thumbs up and then adds that he will be there in an hour. 

Kravitz turns his attention back to the baby on the couch, Crystal has woken up. So he gently lifts her up and back into his arms.

She stares up at him with those beautiful golden eyes, like she's trying to figure out what exactly he is. 

“Hello,” he says quietly to her

Crystal makes a quiet squeaking noise in return, which then turns into small cries as her face contorts into discomfort.

“Are you hungry?” he asks her, reaching for one of the bottles that the hospital had prepared for them before they were able to leave. Along with instructions on how to make the formula. 

Kravitz tries to give her the bottle but she refuses. Her cries become a bit louder, leaving him confused at what she's crying about.

He then begins to smell what’s wrong. That's why she was crying. 

The reaper stands up and quickly goes up the stairs, and straight into the nursery. Putting her down on the changing station. 

The nurses at the hospital also instructed them on how to change a diaper. He knows how to do it. Sort of. 

He takes off her little onesie and is immediately met with that horrible smell, and grimaces.

Kravitz takes the diaper off of the squirming newborn and quickly dumps it into the trash can with a disgusted look on his face. 

The reaper turns his attention back to his daughter, still crying slightly and still very squirmy. He grabs a diaper and a wet wipe and wipes her down. He begins to put the new diaper back onto her. Once he's done, he puts the onesie back onto her.

She is much calmer once he finishes, just little whimpers. 

Kravitz lifts Crystal up into his arms again, placing a kiss onto her forehead. Crystal tries to grab some of his hair, but he gently removes it from her small hands. 

“Let's go downstairs and wait for Angus, yeah?” he says to her with a smile and begins down the hallway towards the staircase.

The reaper pauses at the entrance to his and Taako’s room. Taako is fast asleep, face down and sprawled out in the middle of the bed. The numerous pillows that were used for support are all now on the floor, no longer needing to be used.

He continues down the hallway and downstairs, back into the family room where he sits down on the couch and places Crystal down next to him. Kravitz grabs her binky from the bag and puts in her mouth. 

Not much later, the door opens and closes quietly. Kravitz hears the quiet padding of socked feet against the wooden floor, Angus appears quickly with a large smile on his face. 

The now teen detective walks over tentatively and sits on the couch on the cushion that Crystal isn't taking up. 

“Hi Crystal,” he says softly to the baby before looking up at Kravitz, “She's beautiful.”

The reaper nods, “She is.” he says smiling softly. 

“Is it okay if I hold her?” Angus asks, letting his baby sister take ahold of one of his fingers. 

“Of course,” Kravitz lifts her up and places her into the teen's arms.

Crystal stares up at Angus with her large golden eyes. She coos, a smile forming around her binky.

Agnus laughs, “Hi, I'm your brother.” he says, his smile getting impossibly wider as she coos again, as if responding to what he had said.

“She recognizes your voice,” Kravitz says chuckling softly when Crystal tries to find the source of his voice.

“Probably because I was one of the only people Taako let talk to her?” Angus suggests.

“Yes, that too,” Kravitz laughs, rocking Crystal gently as she continues to coo at them both. 

The two catch up as Crystal falls asleep again. Kravitz places her in the little rocker/bouncer thing so that she’s at least more comfortable. They bake some muffins for when Taako wakes up as well, some don't turn out well but they do their best.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taako wakes up and does stuff, also crystal is a cutie (nobody is surprised about this)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Updates on both this fic and where the ravens go to roost will be slower since school has started again. Hope you enjoy this chapter! (I’m updating this in class rn aoskfjsndjsjwh)

Taako doesn’t know how long he slept, but when he wakes up his mouth is dry as fuck. He groggily sits up and notices that Kravitz left a glass of water on his nightstand. The elf smiles when he sees that his husband also plugged his stone in so that it would be fully charged when he woke up.

He grabs the glass of water and takes a long sip, then sets it down again. Picking up his stone and turning it on to reveal the thousands of notifications that he has. 

A good handful seemed to be from fantasy Twitter, congratulating him on the birth of Crystal. A lot were from the group chat with the former IPRE members. The rest of the notifications were just from his other assorted social media and apps. 

It was a little bit overwhelming, to say the least. 

He unlocks his stone and opens the messaging app, to the group chat that he shared with his friends. Mixed with the usual banter was the occasional wondering about his well being, those were mostly from Magnus.

He read through all of the texts. There were so fucking many. Who let Magnus have a stone of farspeech? He wonders to himself jokingly.

He sends a message into the chat, affirming that he's alright and just really needed to sleep. 

The fighter almost immediately responds with a shit ton of hearts, what else was he expecting? 

The elf lets out a long sigh and continues to lay in bed just staring up at the ceiling, wondering if he should actually get up or not.

Eventually, he does get up. The first thing he does is check the nursery. 

He enters the room and softly walks over to the crib with a smile. Crystal is fast asleep. He doesn't want to disturb her, but she is just so fucking cute. 

Taako reaches down and lifts the newborn out of the crib gingerly, careful not to wake her. Kissing her forehead softly, he carries her over to the rocking chair and sits down.

He stares down at her while he rocks. The elf realizes that this is the first time he’s held and seen her while fully rested and lucid.

Staring down at her now, Taako can't help but feel some sort of emptiness in his stomach… like he's so used to having her in him? He sort of misses all of the kicks, jabs, movements, and hiccups that she had done. But she's here. She's healthy. She's beautiful and everything that Taako imagined her to be. A perfect mix of him and Kravitz. 

He wants to kiss every little freckle on her cheeks and nose.

“Taako? You’re awake” Kravitz smiles, walking into the room.

The elf looks up and his smile widens at the sight of his husband, “Yeah, I am.” 

Kravitz chuckles softly and walks over to kiss him on the lips, “How’d you sleep, dove?” 

“Slept fucking amazing, I swear to gods that probably was the best sleep I’ve had in like, a while.”

“I believe that,” he pauses, “I invited Angus over while you were asleep, we made muffins.”

“Yeah?” 

“Some of them didn’t turn out well but we managed,” the reaper rubs the back of his neck awkwardly.

“What do you mean by that?” Taako squints.

“Forgot baking powder.”

Taako chokes out a laugh, “How? This is why I don't let you bake without my supervision.”

“We were doing our best,” Kravitz pouts, “we made them for you.”

“Aw, babe.” Taako smiles warmly, “That's so fucking sweet.” 

The smile returns to the reaper’s face, “I can go and grab you one?” he offers.

“Nah,” the elf stands up and puts Crystal back into her crib, “Just wanted to get a better look at her now that I'm not in pain and very exhausted, y'know?”

Kravitz nods and wraps Taako into a hug, “love you,” he says.

Taako returns the hug, pressing as close as he possibly can to his husband. The first time he's been able to do this in a while since his stomach had blocked him from getting close enough to fully embrace anyone. “Love you too,” he responds, the empty feeling he felt earlier returns for a moment.

The reaper places a kiss onto his lips when he pulls away.

Taako takes one of Kravitz's hands as the two of them head downstairs.

“Hi, dad!” Angus chirps with a smile when the two of them enter the living room.

“Hey pumpkin,” the elf hold out his arms for a hug which the teen happily accepts, “Heard you and Krav made me muffins?” 

“Yeah!” he smiles, pulling away from his father figure.

Suddenly Taako felt very hungry, he hasn't eaten anything since before they left the hospital. The elf would rather eat something besides shitty hospital food.

“I'm gonna go get some of those muffins, chill for a bit, and maybe go take a shower,” he says and heads into the kitchen.

When Taako enters the kitchen, there are dirty dishes in the sink. The muffins are on the counter, and the counter itself is a bit dirty as well. But he doesn't really care about that right now.

He grabs a couple muffins and heads back into the family room. The elf plops down onto the couch between Kravitz and Angus.

“We should invite the others over to meet the baby, for like dinner maybe?” Taako asks after finishing his first muffin, “I need a shower.”

“Yeah, I think that’s a good idea. To both inviting them over and your shower”, the reaper agrees.

“I’ll send a text in the group chat,” he says taking a bite out of the second muffin, “You two have to clean up the kitchen.” the elf adds.

“Of course, dear.”

Taako takes his stone out of his pocket and invites his friends over for dinner. Only inviting the former IPRE members for now, like its a regular family dinner plus meeting a baby. He really only feels comfortable inviting them at the moment. 

He finishes his second muffin and heads back upstairs so he can take a refreshing shower. The elf grabs a decent pair of clothes, some sweatpants and a t-shirt, and jumps into the shower. 

Taako washes the hospital brand soap and shampoo off of himself in favor of his own much nicer smelling soap. He normally takes long showers but today, he takes a short one. 

The elf can't help but look at himself in the mirror when he's done. 

His stomach is still a bit big but nonetheless, it has visibly shrunk. He assumes its because he doesn't have an extra person in him anymore. 

When he thinks about that, the empty feeling returns for a brief moment. 

Taako shrugs and throws on the sweatpants and t-shirt, brushing his teeth and hair and all that other stuff while he's in there as well. 

Almost as soon as he steps out of the bedroom, he hears the sound of his daughter crying. The elf makes a detour into the nursery where Crystal is. 

He picks her up again gently and rocks her for a moment, shushing her comfortingly. Placing kisses on her forehead until she calms down. 

Once Crystal’s calm, she grabs onto his shirt with all the strength she has. Taako grabs her binky from her crib and places it into her mouth. 

“Let’s go downstairs so you can meet some people later, yeah?” he says to her softly as he walks out of the room.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The rest of the birds meet Crystal and Taako has some anxiety

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More baby? Yes
> 
> I’ll get the next chapter of where the ravens go to roost up soon!

Taako holds Crystal close as he feeds her, she coos softly as she drinks the bottle. Mookie sits to one side of him, actually patiently waiting for his chance to hold the baby for once in his young dwarven life.

Mavis is on his other side, smiling down at the baby as well.

“Can I hold ‘er uncle Taako?” Mookie asks.

“Not yet kiddo, I’m feeding her,” he says to the boy. 

“After?” 

“Mhm,” the elf nods, “do you want to hold her Mavis?” he asks the dwarven girl on the other side of him. 

She shrugs, “Sure.”

Crystal quickly finishes the bottle, so Taako burps her quickly and instructs Mookie on how to hold her properly before placing her into the young boy’s arms. 

“What’s ‘er name?” Mookie asks curiously.

“Her name is Crystal.” 

“That’s a pretty name,” Mavis smiles.

“I thought it was pretty too,” he smiles back.

Mookie starts to squirm, so Taako takes that as a sign that he’s done holding the baby. He lifts Crystal out of his arms and gently into his sisters.

The young dwarven boy jumps off the couch and runs into the general direction of the kitchen, yelling a thank you as he does so.

Mavis leans back against the couch and smiles down at the baby in her arms.

Taako leans back as well, relaxing a bit. He felt a little anxious when Mookie was holding his daughter. He trusts the kid, but at times he can be a little rowdy.

“She’s cute, her eyes are really pretty,” the dwarven girl says and looks up at him, then frowns, “Are you okay?” 

“Hm? Yeah, I’m fine” the elf reassures, he must’ve looked a bit anxious. “Just uh, can’t entirely believe that uh, Crystal’s here you know? But she is and I love her.”

Mavis smiles again, “I think I get it,” she says and hands back Crystal to him. 

She gets up and Lup takes her place almost immediately, giving Taako a smile.

“How’re you doing Ko?” his twin asks, she leans her head onto his shoulder.

“I’m fine I guess,” Taako leans his head onto hers, “I don’t… really know how to explain how I’m feeling right now though?” 

“Yeah?” she lifts her head up, “Cause you officially have a baby now?” Lup asks and boops Crystal on the nose when the baby had opens her eyes.

He nods, “Probably… want to hold her?” He offers.

“Gotta go grab Maggie,” she says, “I just wanted to see how you were doing.”

He nods and stands up with her, she wraps him in a hug. It’s nice and reassuring. Really reassuring.

“See ya in a few,” she whispers and kisses his forehead, wiping away a couple tears from his face he didn’t realize were falling. 

She leaves the room to open a portal as to not disturb the baby in his arms.

The elf begins to head into the kitchen, but there is a knock at the door before he even enters the room. 

“I’ll get it!” He says loudly and opens the door.

Lucretia is on the other side and she smiles warmly at him.

He smiles back, a shaky smile, but it’s a genuine one.

“Are you alright Taako?” She asks in concern.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine.” He says, unsure if that was a lie or not. 

She gives him a look but doesn’t press, then turns her attention to the baby in Taako’s arms.

“Oh! This must be Crystal!” She smiles, “May I hold her?” Lucretia asks.

Taako nods, “Of course, Lucy.” He hands the baby to her.

“Oh, hello!” She coos at Crystal, who makes squeaking noises in return at this new person. “She’s adorable, Taako.”

He nods again, his smile is wider, “Thank you. C’mon let's not stand in the doorway longer than we have to,” he motions for Lucretia to follow him inside. 

Lucretia follows her elven friend into the family room where everyone had decided to move after Lup and (seemingly) Barry had left to fetch Magnus and Davenport respectively. 

“Hey, Aunt Lucretia!” Mavis smiles and restrains Mookie from tackling the older woman in a hug.

“I see that Crystal has found herself into someone else's arms” Kravitz jokes.

“Yes, I will make her my moon child,” she says deadpanning.

“I don't think Taako would appreciate that!” Merle laughs.

“Please don't steal my baby.” he smiles, but gives her a serious look.

“Oh, I won’t, unless you put her in my care specifically.” 

“Alright that's fair.” Taako shrugs, still giving her that serious look, and pulls Kravitz down onto the couch with him as he speaks, “She’s an honorary moon child then.”

The sound of a distant tear the fabric of reality sounds in another room along the heavy padding of feet that could only be Magnus. Said person enters the room with a large smile on his face. 

Taako stands up from his sitting position on the couch, ready for the fighter to crush him in a hug, “Hey, Maggie.”

Magnus does just that. A clear difference from the hugs Taako had gotten while pregnant. Those were soft and gentle. These hugs are comforting yet crushing. Taako doesn’t mind either of these hug styles, Magnus’s hugs vary by emotion.

He lets the elf go and smiles at the baby in Lucretia’s arms. “Hello! You are very cute!” Magnus coos.

“You can hold her, but please sit down first Magnus,” Taako says and fidgets. He trusts Magnus with his life, but sitting decreases the chance of dropping the baby. 

Magnus sits down, right there on the ground and waits for his turn to hold Crystal.

Lucretia sits down on the ground, and hands Crystal to Magnus, showing him how to properly hold her as well.

Taako sits back down next to Kravitz and lets out a sigh. His husband rubs his back in reassurance and kisses the side of his head. 

Magnus’s already large smile gets impossibly wider when Crystal is finally situated comfortably in his arms. 

“Hi!” Magnus says softly to her, “You are so cute!” The fighter rocks the baby gently, he looks up at Taako, now with a serious look on his face. “I would die for her.”

“Please maybe don’t,” Kravitz says with a frown.

Taako laughs and leans against his husband and relaxes a little bit, “He was joking, babe.” He whispers to him.

“I know,” he says back.

The sound of a rift tearing through reality is heard in another room before Barry and Davenport step into the family room. 

“Sorry, uh, had a small issue with where I was docked at. Had to make sure everything was fine before I left Orla to take care of the rest.” Davenport says.

“It’s cool Dav,” Taako shrugs, and gets up to take crystal back from Magnus, “Do you want to hold her?” he offers.

“I’m good, uh, thank you though.” Davenport declines. 

He nods, “Alright, if you want to let me know. ” he says and sits back down next to Kravitz, daughter in his arms this time. 

“She was almost a Halloween baby, what the fuck, why couldn't she be a Halloween baby?” Magnus wonders aloud.

“Because she decided to evict herself four days later. Literally not my decision about that shit, my dude. Bodies don’t work like that, plus she was two weeks early.”

“Would’ve been a little bit ironic if she was born on Halloween wouldn't it?” Kravitz laughs.

“No fucking shit, you’re the grim reaper.” Lup grins.

“Anyways,” Taako says, but is interrupted by Crystal cooing, which turns into small cries.

“She probably needs to be changed, and it’s uh, your turn,” Kravitz says and nudges his husband.

His face scrunches up in disgust but doesn’t protest, “Probably. Ugh, I’ll be back.” He says and stands up.

“Have fun!” Lup teases.

“Shut up!” He says as he leaves the room to change Crystals diaper.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crystal does a new thing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> time skipped to 4 weeks/one month!! this is another cute chapter yall

It’s been four weeks, so basically, a whole ass month since Crystal was born. It’s been tiring, but also a learning experience. Babies are a handful.

So now, Taako is hanging out with Crystal on the floor.

She wiggles on her little tummy and makes a few squeaking noises as she attempts to lift her head off the carpet. Her still floppy ears wiggle a little bit at the bases, she won’t get full control of them until later. They have to put some weird cream on them so she won’t try and chew on them.

“Crystal,” Taako coos at her with a smile as she successfully lifts her head off the ground for a second in response to his voice, “Good job, pumpkin.” 

“Pretty soon she’ll be able to support her own head,” Kravitz smiles from the doorway.

“When did you get home, what the hell?” 

“Just now, dove,” he laughs and joins his husband and daughter on the ground. “I decided to use the front door, didn’t want to startle her.” 

“Ah yes, using the front door like a normal person. Good job.” 

Kravitz laughs and rolls his eyes.

“How was the meeting with the good 'ol RQ go?” the elf asks and sits up and lifts the baby into his arms. 

“Good, she just wanted an update about how things were going,” Kravtiz plants a kiss on Crystal’s head. 

“Did you give her the baby photo?” Taako grins.

Kravitz sighs, “Yes, I did.” 

“Nice,” Taako hands Crystal over to his husband, “Here, have a baby.” 

“Oh, hello!” Kravitz coos and smiles, but frowns when she grabs one of his dreads, “Oh Crystal, honey no, let go of my hair please,” he says and readjusts his grip so he can free his hair. 

“Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you she's getting a little grabby,” the elf shrugs.

“It's alright,” he says and scoots back to lean against the couch, “We talked about maybe giving me easy missions for now so at least one of us can work and I won't be away for long.” 

“Alright,” Taako moves to join his husband and daughter, “I work too,” he protests.

“Yeah?” 

“Yeah, Ren sends me fantasy emails with shit I gotta do. Mostly kept up until I was put on bedrest and then she arrived, so now I'm slowly catching up again,” he says and puts his head onto Kravitz's shoulder.

The reaper nods and pulls his knees up closer to him so he can rest Crystal against his legs.

“I kinda want a cat.” 

“What?” 

“A cat.” 

“I heard you, but dove, we just had Crystal,” Kravitz sighs and allows said baby to tightly grasp his finger, “we should at least wait until she’s old enough.” 

“Yeah, I get it, I was just suggesting,” Taako shrugs and reaches up to place a kiss onto his Kravitz's lips.

“Love you,” His husbands says, the smile coming back onto his face.

“Love you too,” the elf returns the smile and takes Kravitz’s free hand, then leans down to place a kiss onto Crystal's forehead, “and you, cutie.” 

Her face screws into discomfort and she begins to cry.

“Oh, baby, are you hungry?” Taako coos and stands up, “I’ll get it.”

Kravitz nods he stands up as well, but he sits down onto the couch instead and does his best to comfort the crying baby.

Taako grabs the extra bottles they prepared for the day, along the mug that was used earlier, filling it up with water and putting the bottle into it. He microwaves it for about two minutes before returning to Kravitz. 

The elf gently takes the baby into his arms and sticks the bottle into her mouth, “There we go, all better.”

Crystal immediately stops crying and focuses on eating the contents of the bottle and coos with satisfaction. Though there's an odd little rumble coming from her now, and Taako quickly realizes that she is now purring. 

“Oh my god Krav, babe,” he says happily, “she’s purring!” 

“Aw,” he smiles, “baby’s first purr.”

“You better be recording this, my dude,” Taako laughs, “gotta show Lup.”

“Oh, yes,” Kravitz reaches into his pocket and takes out his phone and gives a thumbs up when he’s recording.

Taako is smiling so hard that his face is hurting, it's taking every little bit of his willpower to not purr along with her when Kravitz is recording. This is Crystal’s moment, after all. 

“Okay, recorded a little bit. Want me to send it to you?” 

Taako nods and finally starts to purr with her, which she seems to enjoy. Crystal nuzzles against him as she finishes up the formula. Taako lifts her up onto his shoulder to burp her and catches the absolute lovestruck look on his husbands face. He chuckles and rolls his eyes.

“This is the cutest thing I've ever seen,” the reaper whispers and leans in for another kiss which Taako graciously returns.

Once he finishes burping her, he leans against his husband. The elf is slightly surprised that Crystal is still purring on like a revved-up battlewagon starting up for a race. She must be very relaxed and happy if the purring has gone on this long. 

“How early did elf babies begin to purr on your planet?” Kravitz asks, which Taako answers with a shrug. He was never around newborn elven babies long enough to know.

“Would Lup know?” he shrugs again. 

“Guess that’s an ask the others thing, huh?” Kravitz asks, stealing another kiss. 

Eventually, Crystal’s purrs die down as she falls asleep in Taako’s arms. 

“Okay, to answer your questions in full, I haven't been around an elf baby from my planet long enough to know. Don't fuckin know if Lup knows. No fuckin clue about the others either.” 

“Alright, that’s reasonable.” Kravitz says “want me to get her little bouncy thing so we can cuddle?” 

“Hell yeah.” Taako sits up, allowing his husband to get up from underneath him.

“I'll take the bottle too,” he says and mutters a thank you when Taako hands it to him. 

The reaper returns quickly, relieving Taako of baby holding duty to strap her into that bouncy thing that Taako also forgot the name. Kravitz cozies back into his original position underneath Taako with a quiet hum.

Taako leans back onto his husband and pulls out his phone, saving the video to his fantasy camera roll and sending it to Lup. Who responds immediately with a shit ton of exclamation points and goes Magnus style with all the hearts.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Crystal has a nightmare and goes to school with Taako

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> god ive been so busy with my other fics that i havent updated this one in two whole months, sorry about that!
> 
> crystal is 10 weeks here

Kravitz awoke to the sound of crying, which is nothing unusual recently in the Taaco household.  
Taako stirs next to him, “I got her, dove, go back to sleep.” he whispers.

“Mmkay,” his husband says, still mostly asleep.

The reaper gets out of bed and opens the door to his daughter’s room where she’s crying her little eyes out. She calms slightly when she sees him, but starts up again. 

He lifts her out of her crib and sniffs her bottom; she doesn’t smell so doesn’t her diaper to be changed. So he goes downstairs and grabs a bottle from the fridge and microwaves it in a mug with water. Kravitz offers it to her, but she refuses and is still crying.

Kravitz puts the bottle back in the fridge with a sigh and heads back upstairs to sit in the rocking chair, but to no avail. She’s still crying. “What do you need, Chrys?” he asks her tiredly, “you aren’t hungry and your diaper doesn‘t need to get changed. do you not want me? I’m personally offended.” The reaper mumbles.

He doesn’t wake up Taako. He was planning on visiting his school to get work done there, but he would also bring Crystal too so the kids who stay all year get to meet her as a treat. But Crystal doesn’t want him at the moment.

So he gets up with her still in his arms and into their room, “Uh, Dove? She doesn’t want me.”

“What d’you mean she doesn’t want you?” Taako asks tiredly and sits up.

“She’s not calming down, she doesn’t need her diaper changed nor does she need to get fed. I tried rocking her, but she’s still crying.” 

His husband sighs, “maybe she had a nightmare, can babies even have nightmares?” He asks and holds out his arms for the crying baby.

The reaper gently places her into his arms and crystals crying dies down a little, but she’s still whimpering.

“Aw, you needed daddy didn’t you,” Taako coos and rubs her back in comfort and hums softly.

Kravitz smiles and sits down on the bed, he watches his husband reassure their daughter, and she looks up at him with a look of love. His metaphorical heart melts with that. 

“What?” Taako asks and nudges his leg, “You got that sappy look on your face.”

The reaper places a kiss onto his daughters head, “She looked up at you with love on her face,” he puts his head on his husband’s shoulder.

“She’s looking at you right now with that look too,” he says and smiles softly, “She’s been recognizing us more and more now.” 

Kravitz hums, “Yeah. Hello crystal.” he says with a smile and waves at her. 

Crystal makes a happy noise and reaches out her small hand and takes one of his dreads.

“How do you think she will age? Like I know we aren’t really going by my homeworlds‘ standards because, well, she's half death and that you're actually from this plane?” Taako asks. 

“I never really thought about this before, to be honest,” he hums, “but she really hasn’t showed any signs of delayed growth yet? We don’t even know the death part of her will really affect any of her development. If you’re worried about it, I can ask my Queen the next time I see her.” Kravitz sits up and places a kiss on his husband’s lips.

He nods, “Okay, because it‘s been worrying me a little.” the elf kisses the top of his daughters head once again. 

“I don’t think there’s anything to worry about.” the reaper sits up, carefully removing his hair from his daughter’s grip. “She’s calmed down now, want me to put her back to bed? You have to go to the school today right?”

“Yeah, I could take her. She can meet the year-round kids if she’s not cranky,” the elf says and hands her over to his husband.

He chuckles, “I’m sure they would love her, now let’s go to sleep little missy.” he says and bounces her a little. 

Crystal yawns widely and babbles as if she was protesting that she wasn’t tired. 

Kravitz takes her back to her room and gently places her into her crib and turns on the mobile that Davenport had given them. A soft, soothing sound plays through the speakers, which catches Crystals attention and she yawns again. 

The reaper lets her falls asleep on her own as he goes back to his own room to join his husband in bed.

~~~  
Later in the morning, Taako straps on the baby carrier and places crystal inside, today she’s going with him to the school. 

Normally he would take the train to work since they live so close, but since they have to move on of her playpens into his office, he has to travel by rift today. 

“Are you ready, dove?” Kravitz asks and hands crystal her stuffed raven, which she immediately chews on. 

“Mhm,” he hands Kravitz the baby bag, “we can leave that one in my office, and I’ll just take the train home.” 

“Are you sure?” 

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.” 

“Okay,” Kravitz smiles and summons his scythe to tear a hole in reality directly into Taako’s office. He places the playpen next to the desk where he can access her easily, he also puts the baby bag down nearby. “Have a good day, dove,” the reaper says and places a kiss on Taako‘s cheek and one on crystals forehead.

“Love you,” the elf says with a smile.

“Love you too,” he says and disappears through a portal.

Taako puts all of his things down and places crystal into the playpen along with some of her toys. She coos and sticks one of her toys into her mouth, satisfied for now.

He sits down at his desk and begins on the paperwork he’d fallen behind on. Bills, acceptance letters, a few report cards and all that. He makes sure that crystal is properly entertained as well, it's stressful. The elf has done this at home, but now he’s at work and it feels even more so. 

An hour later, Ren enters his office with a large smile on her face.

“Hey, I know your busy, but I have an adoption offer for two of the kids.” she says excitedly, “also a good handful followed me here because they wanted to see you,” Ren adds with a laugh.

He grins and scoops crystal out of the playpen where she was sleeping, “who’s getting adopted this time?” he asks, “it's almost time for her to be fed, so it's fine.” 

“They were thinking about the human twins, Samet and Mel?” she says in a quieter voice, “say nothing about it, it's going to be a surprise.”

Taako nods and sways slightly as Crystal wakes up. “They deserve it, they’re good kids.” 

“I’ll let them in now or do you want to feed her first?” Ren asks as the baby begins the fuss.

“Yeah, let me get started on that first,” he takes a bottle that was being magically warmed out of the baby bag and sits on the carpeted floor. 

After Taako got Crystal situated in his lap and Ren lets the small wave of children in. Each of them absolutely adored her, and she didn’t seem to mind their company.


End file.
